Abstract
For more than a decade beginning in the early 2000s, NATO’s main area of concern was crisis management in Afghanistan via the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). With the closing of the ISAF mission and in parallel with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, both in 2014, NATO returned to a preoccupation with European security and collective defense. The focus of this article will be on how NATO’s “return to realism” affected one of the main lessons coming out of the Afghan mission, namely the need to define and institutionalize a PoC (Protection of Civilians) policy. At the 2014 Wales summit, when NATO enhanced its regional deterrence with a renewed NATO Response Force, NATO also committed to developing a PoC policy. Some two years later, at the Warsaw summit, NATO further enhanced its regional deterrence with a so-called Enhanced Forward Presence posture and then also signed off on its newly developed PoC policy. PoC policy is eminently a lesson of crisis management operations, and so the question is how NATO nations framed this lesson and propelled it forward at a moment when their main concern was collective defence. To answer this question and thus evaluate the depth and implications of the “return to realism” for crisis management policy, this article traces the making of NATO’s PoC policy 2014–2016 and identifies implications.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
The UN adopted such a “responsibility to protect” doctrine in 2005. See further UN (n.d.).
- 2.
Author’s interview with NATO official, December 2016.
- 3.
Interview with NATO international staffer with ISAF experience, December 2016.
- 4.
- 5.
NATO ’s PoC policy of June 2016 ends with a 10-point plan for military activities—effectively a political tasking of work the military authorities must carry out.
- 6.
The United States maintains app. 4000 troops in Afghanistan outside Resolute Support. The total number of Western troops is thus around 20,000. See further Emmott (2017).
- 7.
Based on interview with NATO official, May 2017.
- 8.
Based on interviews at NATO headquarters, November 2016.
- 9.
Based on interviews at NATO headquarters, November 2016.
- 10.
Interviewed by author, NATO headquarters, November 2016.
- 11.
NATO is thus introducing two new command components to facilitate troop movement and reinforcements along the East-West axis, connecting North America to Western Europe and then also Western Europe to the new allied territories in the East. See further Matthias Gebaur et.al. (2017). These new commands will likely be approved at a NATO summit in July 2018.
References
Beadle, Alexander W. 2010. “Protection of Civilians in Theory—A Comparison of UN and Nato Approaches”, FFI-Report 2010/02453. Kjeller: Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt. http://rapporter.ffi.no/rapporter/2010/02453.pdf.
Bowman, Steve, and Catherine Dale. 2010. War in Afghanistan: Strategy, Military Operations, and Issues for Congress. U.S. Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service. R40156, 32.
Crawford, Neta C. 2017. Accountability for Killing: Moral Responsibility for Collateral Damage in America’s Post-9/11 Wars. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Daalder, Ivo H., and James G. Stavridis. 2017. “NATO’s Victory in Libya: The Right Way to Run an Intervention.” Foreign Affairs 91 (2): 2–7.
Emmott, Robin. 2017. “NATO to Send More Troops to Afghanistan After U.S. Shift.” Reuters, November 7. Available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-afghanistan/nato-to-send-more-troops-to-afghanistan-after-u-s-shift-idUSKBN1D71E0.
Gebauer, Matthias, Konstantin von Hammerstein, Peter Müller, and Christoph Schult. 2017. “NATO Grapples with Serious Organizational Shortcomings.” Der Spiegel, October 20. Available at http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-faces-serious-shortcomings-in-command-revamp-a-1173947.html.
Graf, Beatrice, George Dimitriu, J., and Jen Ringsmose, eds. 2015. Strategic Narratives, Public Opinion and War: Winning Domestic Support for the Afghan War. London: Routledge.
Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC). 2015. Protection of Civilians: How ISAF Reduced Civilian Casualties. Lisbon, Portugal: JALLC.
Moore, Rebecca, and Damon Coletta (eds.). 2017. NATO’s Return to Europe. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
NATO. 2005. SACEUR OPLAN 10302 (Revise 1), December 2005, 106409, Unclassified.
NATO. 2010. “Active Engagement, Modern Defence: Strategic Concept for the Defence and Security of the Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, November 19–20. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/ua/natohq/official_texts_68580.htm.
NATO. 2012. “Chicago Summit Declaration Issues by the Heads of State and Government Participating in the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Chicago on 20 May 2012.” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, August 1, 2012, paragraph 9. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_87593.htm?mode=pressrelease.
NATO. 2014a. “NATO/EAPC Policy for the Implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and Related Resolutions,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization. June 24. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_109830.htm?selectedLocale=en.
NATO. 2014b. “Wales Summit Declaration,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, September 5, paragraph 89. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/ic/natohq/official_texts_112964.htm.
NATO. 2016a. “NATO Policy for the Protection of Civilians, Endorsed by the Heads of State and Government Participating in the Meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Warsaw 8–9 July 2016.” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, July 9. Available at http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_133945.htm?selectedLocale=en.
NATO. 2016b. “NATO and Children in Armed Conflict.” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, July. Available at: https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_10/20161018_1610-children-armed-conflict-en.pdf.
NATO. 2016c. “Warsaw Summit Communiqué,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization. July 8–9, paragraph 95. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_133169.htm.
NATO News. 2016. “NATO Steps Up Efforts to Project Stability and Strengthen Partners,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, July 14, 2016. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_133804.htm?selectedLocale=en.
Perkins, Robert. 2014. Air Power in Afghanistan: How NATO Changed the Rules, 2008–2014. London: Action on Armed Violence.
Ringsmose, Jen and Sten Rynning. 2017. “Now for the Hard Part: NATO’s Strategic Adaptation to Russia.” Survival: Global Politics and Strategy 59 (3): 129–146.
Rynning, Sten. 2015. NATO in Afghanistan: The Liberal Disconnect. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Rynning, Sten. 2017. “Rethinking NATO Policy on the Protection of Civilians.” Parameters 47 (3): 1–11.
Steinsson, Sverrir. 2015. “NATO’s Comprehensive Approach in Afghanistan: Origins, Development, and Outcome.” E-International Relations, July 26. Available at http://www.e-ir.info/2015/07/26/natos-comprehensive-approach-in-afghanistan-origins-development-and-outcome/.
Stoltenberg, Jens. 2017a. “Press Conference.” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, February 16. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/ua/natohq/opinions_141109.htm?selectedLocale=en.
Stoltenberg, Jens. 2017b. “Projecting Stability Beyond Our Borders,” North Atlantic Treaty Organization, March 2. Available at https://www.nato.int/cps/ic/natohq/opinions_141898.htm.
Streit Council. 2008. “Joint Declaration on UN/NATO Secretariat Cooperation,” September 23. Available at http://streitcouncil.org/uploads/PDF/UN-NATO%20Joint%20Declaration.pdf.
The New Arab. 2017. “NATO to Launch ‘Intelligence Hub’ in Tunisia.” The New Arab, April 11. Available at https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2017/4/11/nato-to-launch-intelligence-hub-in-tunisia.
Trump, Donald J. 2017. “Remarks by President Trump on the Strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia.” The White House, August 21. Available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/08/21/remarks-president-trump-strategy-afghanistan-and-south-asia/.
UNAMA and UNHCR. 2015. Afghanistan: Annual Report 2014, Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, 94. Kabul, Afghanistan: UNAMA/UNHCR.
United Nations. n.d. “Responsibility to Protect,” United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. Available at http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/about-responsibility-to-protect.html.
Welsh, Jennifer. 2011. “Civilian Protection in Libya: Putting Coercion and Controversy Back into the RtoP.” Ethics and International Affairs 25 (3): 255–262.
Williams, M. J. 2011. The Good War: NATO and the Liberal Conscience in Afghanistan. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Williams, Nicholas. 2018. “Crisis Management versus Collective Defence,” Center for War Studies Policy Papers 1. https://misc.sam.sdu.dk/files/P.pdf.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to the Gerda Henkel Stiftung for supporting research for this article and the overarching project Can NATO Learn Afghan Lessons?
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rynning, S. (2019). As NATO Looks East, Will It Stumble in the South? The Case of Protection of Civilians Policy. In: Belloni, R., Della Sala, V., Viotti, P. (eds) Fear and Uncertainty in Europe . Global Issues. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91965-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91965-2_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91964-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91965-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)